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Six-Year Soccer Star

By Camdyn Fickes

Bullhorn Report er

RCS seniors Sara Coates, left, and Madison Fuller, have worked their way up to managing the class and The Bullhorn. In this edition, they offer thanks for the new members of the staff. I cannot believe I never wanted to play soccer because I was afraid of getting muddy.

In 2010, I remember my parents saying that I should play soccer for the “exercise.” I would just say, “I don’t like to sweat or get dirty.”

When fall of 2011 rolled around, I gave the sport a try, and it has been my passion ever since.

I went from playing in recreational soccer, to indoor soccer, school soccer, and now a regional-travel soccer team based out of Chapel Hill.

Recreational soccer gave me the foundation I needed to understand the sport. It also helped me develop friendships that I still have today.

To be honest, when I started playing indoor soccer with all the girls that were on travel teams in Raleigh, I felt like I was the worst on the team. When I kept playing for indoor, I eventually started passing the travel team soccer girls skill-wise.

If not for indoor, I may have not made the Roxboro Community School (RCS) soccer team in spring of 2015. I didn’t play much my sixth grade year and, if I was lucky, I would get 25 minutes of playing time.

When it came to my seventh and eighth grade year, I would practically play the whole game unless I got hurt.

After the school season ended in May of seventh grade, I tried out for the Danville Youth Soccer Association (DYSA). I ended up making the 15U team for the association and we won most of our games. However, I felt like that team wasn’t a good fit for me.

When May of 2017 came around, I tried out for Triangle United Soccer Association (TUSA) based out of Chapel Hill. In June, I found out that I had made the bronze team for the classic level. Classic is one of the highest levels of soccer in North Carolina.

I went on an Italian cruise line this past summer to Nassau, San Juan, and St. Maarten. There was a soccer/basketball court on the ship, which was mostly used for soccer. There were lots of people from other countries on the ship, and whenever we went to play soccer, they would be there, and were crazy good at the game.

One of the people my friends and I played with was from Quebec, Canada and he had an uncle who plays on an Italian professional team in Italy. There were others who came from other big cities and countries.

Before the cruise, other Triangle United players and I had the chance to be mentored by one of the greatest women›s national team players of all time, Cyndi Parlow, who is a former midfielder for the U.S Women›s National Team and is a three-time Olympian and two-time World Cup Participant. She is now a coach/mentor for Triangle United players.

Although I never wanted to sweat or get dirty and not play any sport back in 2010, I have now come a long way from that.